Forward Energy

Forward Energy: The Awakening

by Glenn Astarita
March 3, 2012

One never knows whether reed men Jim Ryan and Rent Romus will take matters to the next level or slam conventional jazz applications through the meat-grinder. Respectively, the artists are known for skirting the outside through the mouthpiece of various ensemble configurations, straddling the avant-garde, and an array of mechanisms that often defy categorization. Polytonal in scope, the quintet embeds ever-so-slight modern mainstream elements into a largely zestful session, spanning free-zone type introspective outlooks with hard and fast ...